If Avenging Spirit has taught me anything, it’s that I’ve taken the wrong approach to past arcade game collections. I generally went nostalgic and bought games that I loved in the past. It often leads to disappointment because the games I enjoyed as a teenager don’t translate well into my life, not my teenage years.
However, I had no knowledge of the spirit of vengeance until I started this review. The Nintendo Switch finally caught up, so I’m happy.
This 2D action adventure starts with you dead and your girlfriend kidnapped. You don’t have to do anything about it, right? Wrong. Her dad resurrects you as a ghost to hunt down the gang that caused it all and free the woman. Why don’t dads do this themselves? Because the power of ghosts is important here.
Your mental body isn’t very useful on its own, so you’ll need to inhabit others to play the game. can own.
If you take over them, you can take their power.
Then there are two life bars to manage. One for ghosts and one for possessed bodies. The former is Ghost because he drains while in his form, so you’ll have to keep holding onto enemies to get things going.
As you progress through the game’s six levels, the different enemies you possess make things interesting. Like all arcade games, Avenging Spirit doesn’t last long. That’s fine, though, because the possession hook isn’t enough to carry the player on long adventures. Beyond that, Avenging Spirit is pretty much what you’d expect from a game of this era.
Platforming remains interesting thanks to horizontal and vertical movement. It’s amazing how exhilarating it can be to change directions, as it otherwise relies on the landscape and enemy variety to keep things compelling. There’s a lot to see as you progress, but gameplay changes keep you going.
The graphics also hold up pretty well. As with most 2D sprite-based platformers, the game’s visuals are colorful, engaging, and fun to watch. Players familiar with the era will be welcomed by the environment, even if they’ve never played the game. The same goes for controls that don’t take long to get used to. But that’s not to say they don’t feel awkward at times. .
Avenging Spirit has a few other features, including a number of viewing options that help capture the 90’s arcade vibe. Most of these work well in both docked and handheld modes, both of which are great for gaming. There’s also a two-player mode that allows for local co-op play, greatly extending the life of the game. If you’re not happy with what you got the first time around, you can do so with multiple endings as well.
If I had played Avenging Spirit before, I doubt I would have dipped in the well again. It’s a great game, but probably not one worth replaying. And at just $5.99, it’s a great choice for fans of classic action platformers.
